## WORKING WOMEN COUNT! A REPORT TO THE
NATION

## EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Women work for pay -- in greater numbers, in more occupations, and for more
years of their lives than ever before.  Today, women make up nearly half of our
nation's workforce, and a staggering 99% of women in America will work for pay
sometime during their lives.  Nearly every woman has a stake in what happens in
the workplace.

Despite the importance of women to today's economy, not enough is known
about how women themselves evaluate their work lives.  In May 1994, the Women's
Bureau launched Working Women Count! to ask working women about their jobs --
what they like, what they do not like, and what they want to change.

We believed that if we spoke to women, they would talk back.  And they did. 
In record numbers.

In only four months, over a quarter of a million women told us what it
means to be a working woman in America today.   This report reflects their
concerns and experiences.

### "NOT THE RUN OF THE MILL SURVEY"

As part of the Clinton Administration effort to "reinvent
government," Working Women Count! reached out on an unprecedented scale
with a publicly distributed questionnaire asking women about their lives as
workers.

> "This is not the run of the mill survey," promised
> First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.  "This is the experts themselves --
> working women -- telling us what we need to do."

The Women's Bureau enlisted more than 1,600 partners to help
distribute the questionnaire.  The partners include more than 300 businesses,
900 grassroots organizations, 75 unions, daily newspapers, national magazines
and Federal agencies -- in all 50 States, the Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto
Rico.

In addition to the popular questionnaire, the Women's Bureau conducted a
telephone survey with a scientifically selected, national random sample.  This
scientific sample provided a benchmark for evaluating the replies of women who
chose to be counted in response to the public outreach.  Unless otherwise
noted, the figures used to discuss the results of the Working Women Count!
questionnaire are drawn from the scientific sample.

### FINDINGS: A CONSENSUS FOR CHANGE

Working Women Count! paints a complex portrait of American working women in
the 1990's.  The voices of working women in this report reveal their pride and
satisfaction at being breadwinners for their families and a significant part of
the American workforce.  Fully 79% of respondents tell us that they either "love"
or "like" their jobs overall.

Working Women Count! also reveals a powerful consensus among working women
about what is wrong with their jobs, and what needs to be fixed -- a consensus
that crosses all occupations and incomes, all generations and races, and all
regions of the country.

In addition, the priorities and concerns of the women in the scientific
sample mirror those of the self-selected respondents to the public
questionnaire.  This convergence points to the depth of consensus among
America's working women.

Working Women Count! respondents speak with one voice on the following
issues:

· Pay and Benefits Should Provide Economic Security:  Working
women tell us they are breadwinners, and frequently the sole support of their
households.  Yet, they are not getting the pay and benefits commensurate with
the work they do, the level of responsibility they hold, or the societal
contribution they make.

Improving pay scales and health care insurance for all are the two
top-ranking priorities for workplace change of respondents in both the
scientific and popular samples.

· Workplace Culture Should Support and Respect Families:
Working women tell us their families are very important to

them.  Yet, they feel that neither their employers nor public policy
adequately recognize or support women's family responsibilities.

The number one issue women want to bring to the President's attention is
the difficulty of balancing work and family obligations.  They report that
problems with child care are deep and pervasive, affecting families across the
economic spectrum.

· Opportunity Should Reflect the Value of Women's Work: Working
women tell us they have valuable skills and on-the- job experience, but often do
not get recognition and credit for what they can do -- nor access to training to
build their skills and increase their marketability.

On-the-job training, and giving employees more responsibility for how
they do their jobs, are cited by more than half of respondents as priorities for
change.

Underscoring this consensus, respondents repeatedly express distress and
frustration: they are distressed that their work at home and on the job
continues to be devalued, and they are frustrated with the visible and invisible
signs of inequality.

Respondents are concerned about incidents of discrimination.  However, the
most frequently described inequities, those that seem to weigh most heavily, are
systemic.  Time and again, women describe a work world that still compensates
women in almost every job and profession at a lesser rate than men, defines jobs
done primarily by women as less valuable, and fails to acknowledge that women
are mainstays in both the workplace and the home.

As a working mother from Louisiana writes, "My first priority is, and
will always be, to care for my family.  However, I take my job very seriously
and I am entitled to receive the same compensation and consideration for what I
do as does any male working in a comparable capacity in the nation."

### ISSUES AND CONCERNS

The questionnaire surfaced a number of issues and concerns that are shared
by working women from both the popular and scientific samples.  The numbers
cited are drawn from the scientific survey:

* Health and pension benefits are critical concerns.

Health care insurance for all ranks as the number one   priority for change.
 Forty-three percent of women who work part-time and 34% of women over 55 years
old lack health care insurance.  These percentages far exceed the 18% of the
general population who lack health insurance.  Fifty-seven percent of
respondents give their pension plans negative ratings, including 23% who have no
pension at all.

- 65% of women say "improving pay scales" is a high priority for
change, and 49% say, "I don't get paid what I think my job is worth."
- Stress ranks as working women's number one problem. This problem,
identified by almost 60% of all respondents, cuts across income and occupational
groups.  It is particularly acute for women in their forties who hold
professional and managerial jobs (74%) and for single mothers (67%).
- More than half of the sample, 61%, say they have little or no ability to
advance.  This increases to 69% for blue collar workers and 70% for technical
workers.
- 14% of white women and 26% of women of color report losing a job or
promotion on the basis of their gender or race.  While women of color report a
higher incidence of discrimination, both groups give high priority to "insuring
equal opportunity" -- 50% of white women and 61% of women of color.
- 63% of mothers with children age five and under, and 61% of single
mothers, give high priority to getting paid leave to care for children or
relatives.  Almost half of the respondents of all ages and family situations
support paid leave as a priority for change.
- 56% of women with children age five and under say "finding affordable
child care" is a serious problem, and over half of this group (53%) say "information
about and support for dependent care" is a high priority for change.
- Vacation and sick leave benefits are inadequate.  While 14% of respondents
report having no sick leave, the figure for those earning less than $10,000 is
31%.  Of respondents in blue collar occupations, 46% say they have either
inadequate vacation time or none at all.

### CONCLUSIONS: MAKING WORKING WOMEN COUNT!

Working Women Count! gives voice to the hopes and concerns of America's
working women.

We heard a consensus for change across occupations and incomes, across
races, ages and regions.  Respondents told us: that child care is hard to find
and difficult to afford; that pay and benefits, especially health care, are
neither sufficient nor secure; that training is valued by the professionals who
have it and sought by the blue collar women who need it; that discrimination is
experienced by women of all races; and that workplace inequalities on the basis
of gender are endemic and in need of remedy.

Many of the problems women shared with us are also issues for working
men.  While some of the obstacles respondents wrote about stem from
discrimination, others reflect the trend toward a workforce anxious about job
insecurity, declining benefits, and stagnant wages.  The stresses on working
families affect all family members and, likewise, the remedies stand to benefit
all.

The Clinton administration shares working women's concerns about these
problems and is actively working toward solutions. For example, the first
piece of legislation signed by President Clinton was the Family and Medical
Leave Act, enacted in 1993 after a ten-year congressional battle and two vetoes
by the previous administration.  It is an important step, and the first
legislation in decades to recognize the need for policy that supports women's
work and family responsibilities.  In 1994, the President signed the Head Start
Reauthorization bill, which provides for the expansion of this very successful
child care program -- expanding the number of eligible children and creating
some full-day, full-year slots to better serve working parents.

Most importantly, the administration is working to provide greater economic
security for all Americans.  Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit gives a
boost to low-income families with an unprecedented income supplement.  Passage
of the School to Work Opportunities Act provides young women and men with new
opportunities for job training and education and demonstrates the importance of
investing in our future workforce.  Through tough and consistent enforcement of
our labor laws, the Department of Labor has been sending a clear signal to
employers that this administration is committed to promoting equal opportunity
in the workplace and protecting all workers, regardless of gender, race, age or
ability.

Solutions to the problems Working Women Count! respondents have
identified must come from many quarters.  Positive change will require a
cooperative effort, and the imaginations and talents of many individuals and
organizations.  More than 1,600 partners joined the Women's Bureau out of a
shared concern and desire to understand what working women care about.  Now each
of us -- government, business, unions, grassroots organizations, and the media
-- has an important role to play.  And we can each begin by discussing these
issues with our own co-workers, our own community organizations, and our own
families.  We must build the consensus documented in this report into a national
consensus for change.

Our challenge?  To build high performance workplaces that fully and fairly
value women as equal partners in American life.

A Note from Secretary of Labor
Robert B. Reich and Director of the Women's Bureau Karen Nussbaum

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